{"id":107070,"date":"2026-03-06T10:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T15:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/?p=107070"},"modified":"2026-03-06T11:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:03:49","slug":"nickerson-family-and-mayflower-lines-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/nickerson-family-and-mayflower-lines-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Nickerson Family and Mayflower Lines (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, focusing again on Jennifer (Koehler) Mackall and featuring Warren Nickerson. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I continue with the Nickerson and allied families of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, who married into the Pilgrim families who sailed on the Mayflower<\/em> in 1620.<\/p>\n

To recap: In Part 1<\/a> of this series I introduced William Nickerson and the early lands he acquired in Chatham, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

Below is a marker of the site of Nickerson\u2019s home, located at the intersection of Orleans Road (Massachusetts Route 28) and Crows Pond Road in Chatham.<\/p>\n

\"Photos:
Photos: historic marker for site of first settler William Nickerson\u2019s home, Chatham, Massachusetts. Credit: Brandon D. Cross, Historical Marker Database.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The inscription reads:<\/p>\n

Site of First Settler\u2019s Home<\/p>\n

The house of William Nickerson, built about 1664, stood south 51 degrees west at a distance of 19 1\/5 rods (about 105 yards) from this marker. He was the first settler in Monomoit where he purchased from the Indians most of what is now Chatham.<\/p>\n

\u201cWee do not desire to live alone, but are willing to receive soe many inhabitants as theire is land to accommodate them with, soe that wee may goe on in a way of peace and love for the glory of God, and the good and welfare of the government, and the inlargement thereof and the good one of another.\u201d<\/p>\n

William Nickerson to the court at Plymouth, 4 July 1663<\/p>\n

Erected by the Chatham Historical Society, 1980<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My subject today is Warren Sears Nickerson (1880-1966), a tenth-generation descendant of William Nickerson, the youngest out of 12 children born to Warren Jenson Nickerson and Mary B. (Atkins) Nickerson of East Harwich, Massachusetts, and a direct descendant of Mayflower<\/em> passengers Elder William Brewster, Mary Brewster, John Tilley, Joan Tilley, Elizabeth Tilley, Stephen Hopkins, Gyles Hopkins, Constance Hopkins, and John Howland.<\/p>\n

Below is a wooden plaque that accompanies a model ship of the Mayflower<\/em>, built by Warren Nickerson\u2019s son-in-law George Pearson Marble, presented by his grandson Warren Nickerson Marble \u201cin memory of his Grandfather Warren Sears Nickerson.\u201d It lists all the Mayflower<\/em> passengers this Nickerson line has in the family tree.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: wooden Mayflower plaque. Credit: Nickerson Family Association.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Warren Nickerson was a historian and antiquarian. Delores Bird Carpenter compiled some of his research and published Early Encounters: Native Americans and Europeans in New England, from the Papers of W. Sears Nickerson<\/em>, which documented New England tribes such as the Nawset-Potanumacuts, Monomoyicks, Satuckets, Mattakeesit-Nobscussets, and Pawmets.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: cover of \u201cEarly Encounters: Native Americans and Europeans in New England, from the Papers of W. Sears Nickerson,\u201d by Delores Bird Carpenter. Credit: Nickerson Family Association.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The primary sources Nickerson relied on for his research came from genealogist Stanley W. Smith, a former historian for the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants.<\/p>\n

Many letters from Nickerson to Smith are housed in the Stanley W. Smith Collection at Sturgis Library in Barnstable, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

I found an obituary for Nickerson with his photo, who died on 8 January 1966 in Florida.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Daytona Beach News-Journal (Daytona Beach, Florida), 9 January 1966, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

Warren Sears Nickerson, 85, 406 N. Beach St., Ormond Beach, a retired gift shop owner, and a direct descendant of nine [Pilgrims] who crossed the Atlantic in the Mayflower in 1620, died yesterday at Halifax Hospital.<\/p>\n

He came here 35 years ago from Wellesley Hills, Mass., where he operated a funeral home. He operated a lending library and gift shop known as Wayside Gift Shop for 15 years in Daytona Beach.<\/p>\n

Previous to coming to the Halifax area, he had been a member of the Board of Selectmen in Harwich, Mass., treasurer of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, president of the Barnstable County Chapter of the American Red Cross, and a director of the Cape Cod Trust Co.<\/p>\n

He was a Mason for over 50 years and received his 50-year pin several years ago. He was, at one time, master of the Pilgrim Lodge, F&AM, and acting high priest of the Sylvester Baxter Royal Arch Lodge, Harwich.<\/p>\n

After his Massachusetts business career ended in 1925, he took up genealogy as a hobby and also wrote a book Land Ho! 1620<\/em><\/a>, which is considered by officials of the museum in Provincetown, Mass., to be the most authoritative account of the [Pilgrims\u2019] journey to these shores.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: cover of \u201cLand Ho! 1620,\u201d by Warren Sears Nickerson. Credit: Nickerson Family Association.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the time of the arrival of the Mayflower II<\/em><\/a> [in 1957], he was presented with a commemorative medal by the Cape Cod Pilgrims Memorial Assn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Mayflower II arriving in 1957. Credit: University Archives and Special Collections, University of Massachusetts, Boston; and Digital Commonwealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was the same medal given to Capt. Alan Villiers and his crew who sailed the Mayflower II across the Atlantic; Pres. Eisenhower; both senators from Massachusetts; and the Queen of England.<\/p>\n

A letter accompanying the medal stated that it was being presented to Nickerson \u201cin view of his interest in [Pilgrim] lore and what you have done to perpetuate their history.\u201d<\/p>\n

He helped form the first Florida branch of the Society of Mayflower Descendants<\/a> [the Elder William Brewster Colony] and served as its governor from 1940 to 1942.<\/p>\n

Survivors include his wife, Donna; three daughters: Mrs. Dorothy Ross, Madison, N. J.; Mrs. Mary Marble, South Orleans Mass.; and Mrs. Jean Primavera, Germantown, Md.; a sister, Mrs. Geneva A. Eldredge, Wareham, Mass.; and seven grandchildren.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Below is a newsclip of Nickerson which features his photo. He was keeping a daily chart of the ocean crossing of the Mayflower II<\/em>. He told the press:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were a tough bunch, and if you want to know what a Pilgrim looked like, take a look at me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
Daytona Beach News-Journal (Daytona Beach, Florida), 30 May 1957, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nickerson married Imogene Howes Small in 1905, and 2nd Donna May Corliss.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for more Nickerson family lines\u2026<\/p>\n

Create a free account<\/a> at GenealogyBank for 7 days to start your journey and discover the stories your ancestors left behind.<\/p>\n

Note on the header image: \u201cMayflower in Plymouth Harbor,\u201d by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n

Related Article:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n